As a self-directed flex course, this can be registered for and taken at any time, at the student’s convenience. Registrants will have access to the full syllabus and reading materials as well as lecture recordings, but without any live classes or discussions.
This course introduces students to social ecology: an interdisciplinary body of ideas that explores the relationship between social and ecological problems. Students in this class will learn the foundations of social ecology and apply these insights to a variety of contemporary political and ecological problems, sharpening their understanding of the world while developing visionary ideas to change it. The course explores a broad range of interconnected themes including: social theory, hierarchy and domination, gender, race, capitalism, nature philosophy, food and technology, direct democracy and the state, political organizing and movement history, and reconstructive vision.
The ten units explore:
- What is Social Ecology?
- Understanding Nature
- The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy
- Cisheteropatriarchy and Feminist Responses
- Race and the Colonial Order
- Capitalism, Critique, Alternatives
- Agriculture, Climate, and Ecology
- Politics Beyond the State: Direct Democracy & Popular Assemblies
- Getting from Here to There: Social Movements and Community Organizing
- Reconstructive Vision: Reclaiming Utopia
Instructors: Dan Chodorkoff, Chaia Heller, Brian Tokar, Kali Akuno, Yvonne Yen Liu, Peter Staudenmaier, Blair Taylor, Grace Gershuny, Mason Herson-Hord, and Brooke Lehman.
